Teens Are In Crisis. Here’s Why. | The New York Times

Why are so many American teenagers feeling anxious, depressed and even suicidal? Our video looks at the science behind the teen mental health crisis.


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[tarobrob]

People also forget how city and town designs affect our childhood and adolescence. America is a car-centric country, where we need cars to do anything which causes everything to be designed for cars. This car dependency takes hold of their independence, one of the reasons why children and teens are confined in their homes until they can afford a car later in life. Not to mention the standardized segregation of zoning in this country, we hardly find stores and other commercial amenities in our neighborhood, like corner stores and cafes, because it is illegal. These all contribute to the lack of social connections and independence the teenagers of this age are facing. Both which are essential to human development and well-being. There is a reason why Dutch teenagers are among the happiest in the world. I recommend watching "Not Just Bikes" for a more detailed explanation of car-centric topics and the alternatives for our towns and cities.

(Edit: this problem exacerbates in the suburbs)

[jeremiasrobinson]

"Unattainable beauty in a world that seems like it is ending"- well said

[alextargaryen]

In my perspective the key reasons behind this are: lack of human contact particularly parental guidance, heavy academic competition and above all social media which portrays everyone else's life except yours as great and fun. The pandemic has just accelerated these causes. Trust me these words come from an experienced mouth.

[narial]

-heavy academic competition
-crisis everywhere
-social media pressure
-very little "humanization"
-no local communities/spaces that aren't for academics or social media clout
-working parents with little/no PTO to spend with kids

It's not surprising

[claireabella]

everybody blames "too much time on social media", but nobody realizes that because of social distancing we are driven to social media more than ever before to satisfy our social needs.

[dtl]

At 60 I got on Facebook. So fun checking out old friends. Within days I was becoming depressed about my life, about life itself maybe. I don’t really know. I deleted Facebook and all other social media. That sad empty feeling went away quickly. So imagine being a kid! Wow!

[eml]

my father didn't buy me a phone until I turned 18, hated my life for a while because of that, but as I grow I get more and more and eternally grateful for him.

[daveharrison]

I blame American car dependent cities and towns. In most of America, if you can't drive then you can't leave your house, and your only social life is on your computer.

[CyPorter]

I'm so glad I grew up pre-internet. I don't think I would have survived adolescence in this era. I applaud the minds that navigate growing up in this time.

[pbot]

As a teen, I feel like a huge part of my mental health issues stem from the American collegiate system. Kids at my school are all pushing themselves past the breaking point to get into the same 15 colleges, and those that don't get treated like they've given up on their future and are content to be unsuccessful. I don't know one classmate who hasn't struggled with depression, anxiety, an eating disorder, or adhd. Mental illness is real and a lot of it stems from our school systems.

[thebacko]

The transition into college is notorious for bringing out underlying, untreated mental illness. I had an experience much like Justin's in freshman year of college. It is a time where you are supposed to feel and be independent, so it makes it that much harder to seek help from people you just moved away from...stigma on top of isolation is a recipe for disaster

[alylu-to-esutej]

I've had severe depression and anxiety since I was 12 and for a long time I had no one to talk to. Now ten years later I feel like I've only got better out of college. It's taken months to just process all of it. It's crazy how normal it is in my generation for everyone to be depressed. You're not alone, but services at colleges are completely understaffed. One of the worst things that depression has done for me is deleted or warped all my happy memories.

[theblacksal]

Cutting contact with toxic and empty people, using social media only to follow things you really love, eating fresh foods, 15 minutes daily sunlight, and sleeping in total darkness are helping me to cope depression.

[benlatimer]

I have several issues with this video, one of them is how they don’t talk about academic school pressure and the lack of care or empathy in the school system. I almost failed high school, it was a rough time.

[The_DCR]

A big reason for rising depression is rising academic expectation. Myself and many others would stay awake for hours, sometimes into the early hours of the morning, doing homework and studying. My 9th grade honors biology textbook was titled as a college textbook. This huge pressure to do well academically, and the exponentially fast increase of that pressure, no doubt contributes to depression.

[JohnSmith-wixo]

I'm a young adult in college. I fee so numb, day in and day out. I have no one. I've never had friends. It was especially painful in high school. Now that I've graduated, I feel like I've missed out on so much. I'd be lying if I said I didn't think of suicide at least once a day. My life is a nightmare, and adulthood will only become more difficult.

[mamadragonful]

The final interview was telling. She said she was 18 before someone told her "you need more than meds" and "you can get through this and have a full, happy life". All of the 'help' she had gotten and NO ONE had given her any help other than pharmaceuticals? Yikes.

[madelinek.]

I am 21 years old now. When I went to college at 18, I felt so lonely at every party I went to, yet I would post videos on Snapchat and photos of me with "friends" to show I was having fun. I hated my first semester, but when my high school friends asked me how college was they then added about how much fun it looked like I was having. I was so scared to admit that I was not OK, and eventually shut down second semester and ended up dropping out. COVID happened immediately after I dropped out, and I have been diagnosed with BPD, anxiety and depression since then. I feel like the biggest failure for falling apart and causing my family to feel distraught and bewildered.

I feel like I am in a cycle I can't get out of. I have been to the psych hospital 10 times since leaving school, I have had six jobs and have been fired from everyone due to panic attacks, and I have not made any progress. I have lost three years of my life, and I am broken and ruined. I appreciate this video saying that social media isn't the only cause of the mental health crisis, as other factors were a part of my decline. I currently don't have any faith that things will get better for both me and my generation, along with generations to come, but I hope policies or awareness becomes much more acceptable to talk about.

[ownedbymykitty]

I’m 50 and growing up, I was never depressed until my late 20s. I was happy as a kid, as a teen and as a college student despite none of it being easy. I started working part time much earlier than my peers and mostly grew up living below the poverty line. I came home to an empty home after school for the first 2-3 hours from age 11 onward. That would be considered child neglect now, but I loved it. I was able to watch the cartoons and shows I wanted and play music as loud as I wanted before my parents and my older siblings got home from work. None of my friends or anyone I knew in my elementary, middle or high school self-harmed themselves let alone suicide. We were for the most part happy kids and young people that occasionally got in mild trouble, but that was about it. I believe a major contributor to this was that I saw at least one of my friends almost everyday after school and on most weekends. In addition we were allowed to be kids without constant adult supervision. Helicopter parenting doesn’t allow children to become self-reliant. Social isolation simply leads to depression. We definitely need better studies on why puberty is starting earlier, why testosterone levels in males have been decreasing, and why people born in the United States have been getting shorter starting since 1983. Younger people today are not only mentally but also physically less healthy than previous generations.

EDIT: I just want to add that being young and depressed, anxious or suicidal at clinical levels is not normal and was not common until the last 2 decades. It was very rare in the 80s and before. We need to look at the root causes and prevent it in the first place rather than mostly focus on (profitable) treatments.

[Ali-fxjd]

17 year old male here, I am gonna leave this little comment here for the 5-10 ppl who will see it. Delete most of your social media. It helps you a lot with your self confidence your own beauty and health. I tell you this ppl are on tiktok, snapchat, insta and all these apps are usually lonely, depressed, sad. Bec you are always comparing yourself to others. "He looks so good", "she is so pretty, I wish I could be like her." I am telling you it eats at you. except for discord, and snapchat (which I have bec my 12th grade class communicates on there) I deleted everything. Waking up and being able to look myself in the face helps a lot. Not feeling like less or not beautiful and all that is way better than the dopamine hit you will get. I have my own problems but I don't have nearly as many as my friends who are addicted to this stuff.